subject: Quality still rules in the battle for TV supremacy [print this page] Quality still rules in the battle for TV supremacy
Television makers have been bombarding the market in recent years with models which are designed to cover every possible niche. As a result, it's hard to imagine that there is any new ground left to cover. But the advent of LCD televisions, and now their LED-backlit cousins, has shown that, if there's one area of the electronics market where people's hunger for the latest products and innovations has been aroused to such a degree that it looks set never to be sated, it's televisions.
It's hard to imagine just how far TV technology has advanced in a relatively short period of time. Lots of current hit television shows were already around when the first flat screen TVs arrived on the scene, and the old-style big boxes, on their purpose-built stands which dominated the corner of the living room, still predominated. There was very little sign of the revolution which was to come, and of the ways in which it would impact on everyone's television-watching habits.
Until just a few years ago, it was almost unheard of for people to make watching the television a mass, social event. What made the idea of this so fanciful was that television screens were largely restricted to certain sizes above that, and the old-fashioned cathode ray tube was unable to provide enough brightness to produce a good quality image. The catalyst for the movement which freed TVs from these long-standing shackles was the development of the plasma display.
A plasma television display consists of millions of tiny cells, each of which contains a minuscule amount of mercury. When these receive an electrical charge, that forms a plasma, a gas-like matter through which electricity can be conducted extremely effectively. And this, in basic terms, is what allows a plasma screen to display very bright and clear images, even often at long distances. This superior picture quality was the main factor in enabling plasma televisions to become so popular in a relatively short time. Coupled with people increasingly deciding that they needed more than one television in their home, this created the conditions which meant the market for plasma TVs suddenly went into the stratosphere.
Nowadays, many people have become so accustomed to the superior quality and wide availability of plasma TVs that they equip several rooms with them. While watching television is still far and away the top pastime of Britons, it is the emergence of plasma technology which has enabled that pastime to become a far more engaging and exciting experience.
When buying a Sony LCD TVs it's a good idea to consider how long will be spent watching it, and then budget accordingly. Online buying guides can offer plenty of pointers, and pinpoint the differences between different LCD TVs.
